Keynote Speakers

Professor Robert M DavisonDepartment of Information Systems
City University of Hong Kong

Robert Davison is a Professor in the Dept of Information Systems at the City University of Hong Kong. His research focuses on IT-supported Knowledge Exchange, Communication and Work in Chinese firms. He has published over 70 articles in a variety of journals such as MIS Quarterly, the Information Systems Journal, IT&People, Journal of IT, Journal of the AIS, Journal of the American Society for Information Science & Technology, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Decision Support Systems, Communications of the AIS, and Communications of the ACM. Robert is the Editor-in-Chief of the Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, co-Editor-in-Chief of Information Systems Journal, and co-Editor-in-Chief of Information Technology & People.

Keynote Speech Abstract

Integrating IS in People, Objects, Institutions:
Reflections on the Implications for Research and Practice

There is evidence to suggest that Information Systems (IS) are already deeply embedded in a variety of contexts. At one end of the scale, the Snowden revelations suggest that intelligence agencies embed surveillance systems into just about anything possible. Businesses are utterly dependent on embedded systems throughout their operating processes. Meanwhile, as individuals, we have near ubiquitous access to the web: social media has so deeply penetrated our lives that, at least for digital natives, it constitutes an orthotic extension to their personae. Indeed, why stop at people, since our household artifacts (refrigerators, air conditioners, cars, etc.) also have embedded IS with mobile Internet connectivity. The privacy implications of all this embedding are mind-boggling. Consider the clubbers who voluntarily embed RFID chips into their arms so as to avoid the inconvenience of carrying cash or cards in clothes-optional venues! Prisoners in some jurisdictions are already RFID-tagged on release and it has even been suggested that politicians should be chipped, much as family pets and dangerous goods are, so that their movements can be tracked by the tax-paying public. In this keynote, I will explore the research and practice implications of these various embedded contexts.

Dr. Jürg von Känel is the senior manager of the “IBM Research – Australia” lab in Melbourne. He studied math and computer science at ETH Zürich and holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science (1991). Joined IBM in 1985 in Zürich Switzerland. In 1991 he moved to TJ Watson Research center in the US and most recently managed the relationship between Research and the financial services industries. In 2004 he initiated an Enterprise Risk & Compliance Framework focused primarily on the financial industry. This lead to the Treasury & Risk magazine listing him as one of the 100 most influential people in finance in 2006.
He is a member of the IBM Academy of Technology and a member of the Industry Advisory Board of RMIT University.
Since June 2011, he has moved to Melbourne, Australia to lead the establishment of the new IBM Research lab in Australia.

Keynote Speech Abstract

Cognitive Computing - The 3rd Era of Computing

Computer-based information systems started with tabulating machines, which could count and sort. We then entered the computing era - generally programmable and configurable information systems capable of solving many problems from operational transaction processing to visualisations and human social networking. With the Watson supercomputer, the first information system to beat humans in the game of Jeopardy!, we entered for the first time, the era of cognitive computing. Cognitive systems learn and interact naturally with people to extend what humans can do on their own (http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/ibm_predictions_for_future/ideas/).
Potentially, they help us solve problems by penetrating the complexity of Big Data. This talk will highlight the characteristics of such systems and their impact on business and governments as well as the challenges for information systems development going forward into the next decade of the 3rd era of computing.